Called by God to lead this infant nation, Moses had been extracted by God from a sheep tending career and pressed into leading this strange adventure. People who knew nothing but slavery journeyed into the wonders of freedom in a land that would be their very own.

I’m more inclined to lose myself in the urgent, but relatively comprehensible, demands of a Christmas shopping list than to lose myself in meditation on the incomprehensible truth that “the Word” ––the One who is God––would become a man to bring the grace and truth of God to humanity.

Mental health problems are difficult to talk about because we simply don’t do it much. As a result, we don’t always know what to think or what to say. Yet mental health problems are extremely common. In any given year, about one in five persons, regardless of age, will experience a mental illness.

I sit alone in my office after an emotional and heartbreaking conversation with a mother watching her daughter, in the midst of an identity crisis, make decisions that cannot be easily undone. And then, as if I am having deja vu, I am transported to a previous conversation with a father.

What does it mean to be human? Looking at that question, you might suggest that perhaps I’m biting off more than I can chew in a short article. A question like that falls into the same category as, “What is the meaning of life?” or “How do I know who I am?”

We need the meat and potatoes that Scripture can offer. The deeper we dig into the Bible, the more we learn we don’t know it all. So, dig deep for great riches and even greater understanding.

Jerusalem is a reminder of God’s fearsome judgment and his unfailing grace to both the faithful Hebrews of the Old Testament and the Christians of the New Testament.